Attacks on the Press in 2006 - Snapshots: Romania

Committee to Protect Journalists, Attacks on the Press in 2006 - Snapshots: Romania, February 2007, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/47c5676423.html [accessed 31 March 2015]

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On February 16, a Bucharest judge sentenced Marian Garleanu, correspondent for the opposition daily Romania Libera, to 10 days in jail on a charge of possessing classified military documents about coalition troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. Garleanu, who did not publish the information, received the documents from former Romanian soldier Ionel Popa, who was arrested for leaking classified information to radio stations and newspapers. On February 18, the Supreme Court overturned the ruling and ordered Garleanu's release. Romania Libera correspondents Ovidiu Ohanesian and Petre Mihai Bacanu were also investigated but not charged.

Sebastian Oancea, Focsani correspondent for the national daily Ziua, was charged on February 22 with possession and distribution of state secrets related to military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. Oancea faced seven years in prison if convicted, The Associated Press reported. Three other Ziua journalists – Bogdan Comaroni, Doru Dragomir, and Victor Roncea – were also investigated for possession of state secrets. Comaroni, Dragomir, and Roncea turned over the classified documents to police in early 2006. Ziua did not publish the contents of the documents or write a story about them. The Bucharest Daily News said the documents included encoding information for military radio transmissions, passwords and secret signals, and maps of military facilities.